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Federal agents on Tuesday took aim at a new type of scam called "sextortion," arresting a Glendale, Calif., man on charges that he hacked into e-mail and Facebook accounts of young women and then posed as a woman to convince others to send him nude photos of themselves.
Karen "Gary" Kazaryan was named in a 30-count indictment charging him with gaining unauthorized access to e-mail, Facebook, and Skype accounts belonging to more than 100 women from 2009 to 2011.
Once he'd hacked into an account, Mr. Kazaryan would change the password and then pose as the female owner of the account, according to the indictment.
He would contact the account holder's female friends and attempt to persuade or extort them into removing their clothing so he could photograph them via their webcams.
The "sextortion" scam is a variation of the practice of "sexting," sending nude images of one's self over the Internet to others.
